Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore;
Twenty-eight young men, and all so friendly:
Twenty-eight years of womanly life, and all so lonesome.
[11.1]
She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank;
She hides, handsome and richly drest , aft the blinds of the window. 195
[11.2]
Which of the young men does she like the best?
Ah, the homeliest of them is beautiful to her.
[11.3]
Where are you off to, lady? for I see you;
You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.
[11.4]
Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather; 200
The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them.
[11.5]
The beards of the young men glisten’d with wet, it ran from their long hair:
Little streams pass’d all over their bodies.
[11.6]
An unseen hand also pass’d over their bodies;
It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs. 205
[11.7]
The young men float on their backs—their white bellies bulge to the sun—they do not ask who seizes fast to them;
They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch;
They do not think whom they souse with spray.
[11.8]
11.
Twenty-eight young men bathe by the shore;
Twenty-eight young men, and all so friendly:
Twenty-eight years of womanly life, and all so lonesome.
[11.1]
She owns the fine house by the rise of the bank;
She hides, handsome and richly drest , aft the blinds of the window. 195
[11.2]
Which of the young men does she like the best?
Ah, the homeliest of them is beautiful to her.
[11.3]
Where are you off to, lady? for I see you;
You splash in the water there, yet stay stock still in your room.
[11.4]
Dancing and laughing along the beach came the twenty-ninth bather; 200
The rest did not see her, but she saw them and loved them.
[11.5]
The beards of the young men glisten’d with wet, it ran from their long hair:
Little streams pass’d all over their bodies.
[11.6]
An unseen hand also pass’d over their bodies;
It descended tremblingly from their temples and ribs. 205
[11.7]
The young men float on their backs—their white bellies bulge to the sun—they do not ask who seizes fast to them;
They do not know who puffs and declines with pendant and bending arch;
They do not think whom they souse with spray.
[11.8]
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